for NRL products.
Polymeric/inorganic nanocomposites (PINs) represent a
radical alternative to conventional-filled polymers or polymer
blends, and exhibit a controllable combination of the
benefits of polymers (such as flexibility, toughness, and
ease of processing) and those of inorganic phase (such
as hardness, durability, and thermal stability) [13]. Such
an improvement in combined characteristics is particularly
significant at low loading levels of nano-fillers, which do
not significantly increase the density of the compound or
reduce light transmission. Therefore, introduction of inorganic
nano-fillers into NR matrixes to overcome the aforementioned
disadvantages of NR has recently attracted
enormous interest. Most of these are using clay minerals
with a unique multi-layered structure to reinforce NR
via melt-intercalation [14,15], latex-compounding [16]
and solution-mixing methods [17].